Jihad of the Soul: Singlehood in Muslim America

Due to popular demand, the Beautifully Wrapped at the Kalamazoo Public Library is full. But don't worry! We're in the process of scheduling a second program. Join our mailing list to receive the announcement.

Transform you do and you!

Peace,

Zarinah.

I've been thinking about "isms." The problem with addressing just one is that the root is never full eradicated. People exhange racism for homophobism (whatever your moral beliefs) or islamophobism or meateatersism (discrimination against people who eat meat, lol). Anyway the real problem is a LOVE DEFICIENCY. A lack of love... for another human being and the understanding that we are all made of the same thing.

From the Fetzer Institute (www.fetzer.org)

Take Action to Love & Forgive

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." — Maya Angelou

By more consciously practicing love and forgiveness, you may notice three things: one, it gets easier; two, it makes you feel good; and three, it's contagious. Why not spread some love and forgiveness around and see what happens?

It wasn't until I wrote a book that I realized how many others dream of writing their own books!  Some want to do it for money, some just have an idea they want to share and others are shooting for fame.  Whatever the reason, books are wonderful ways to begin a conversation with the world. My advice to those of you who want to write a book is to WRITE!   Get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper.  Even though your first 3 drafts will be total crap, you'll feel much better knowing that you've started the process.

Remember that being an author is like having your own business.  You are responsible for the success or failure of your product.  Books don't sell themselves, you must market and let the world know it's available. 

I'll be blogging the steps I find helpful for those of you who are intersted in writing your own books.

Special thank yous go to Jillian and the Canton Public Library for hosting the Art of Headwrapping workshop! Unfortunately, most of our pictures were lost from the event (camera left in movie theatre fiasco :( )  but here is the announcement reprinted from www.cantonpl.org:

From Jillian the Tween Librarian:

Writing a book is an extremely humbling process. You spend so much time researching, writing, editing, talking, pondering, erasing and rewriting that in the end, you finally decide that enough is enough! You must stop at some point and trust that you've done a good job. But reaching that level of comfort is extremely difficult, especially for a perfectionist like me! There is always one more comma that could be placed, or another section that should be added.

Writing and marketing Jihad of the Soul has been an exciting journey and I appreciate all of the positive feedback. The book has cracked open the community discussion can, ever so slightly. Don't get me wrong, I realize that one book cannot end all of the ailments for single Muslims (and by extension the community as a whole), but it can push us to think and openly discuss ways the Muslim community can begin to grow.

So please continue to send us your feedback, I LOVE to hear your thoughts!

Yesterday I left work to find my car covered in at least an inch of snow. Kalamazoo's first snow fall of the year had come with a vengeance! It was beautiful and I thought of how happy DJ, our Indonesian exchange student would be at seeing snow for the first time.  While I reveled in the beauty, I also thought about the symbolic nature of weather changes. You see, earlier in the day it had been raining and now with a slight drop of a few degrees, the rain had changed over to snow. We're taught to study nature so that we may know more about ourselves.

Could it be that our lives are the same? That with the change of just a few characteristics, our entire life can be effected in a multitude of ways?  We all have qualities of goodness, of love, and of patience, but sometimes there are just a few minor things that stop us from transforming ourselves into people of beauty and grace.  What are the minor things hindering you in your life?  How can you propel into a higher plane of existence?

Ok, a lot of you have asked what we at Niyah are up to. Well, we have a couple of things in the works:

1. After numerous requests, I'm publishing a book on the Art of Headwrapping! You'll be able to learn techniques, understand the history as well as hear first hand stories of how headwrapping is integrated into the lives of so many women and men around the world. DUE FALL 2010!

2. Niyah Good Life Foundation - we''ve completed our well project and are back to focusing on girls' education in Sierra Leone. Our goal is to eventually build a entrepreneurial school for girls.

3. Jihad of the Soul - I continue to speak on issues of Singlehood in Muslim America and have received a lot of positive feedback. In fact as an Eid gift, we're offering the ebook FREE till December 15th! Just email Zarinah at zarinah@niyah.net for your copy.

So this is a snippet of what's in the works. Thanks to each of you for your feedback and support! Let us know what you would like to see from us...we listen!

In response to my "7 steps to finding a wife" article, one brother responded and suggested that there are not really a lot of single women at all. That in fact, there must be a shortage which he used the number of "Imams" who marry non-Muslim women as proof of his point. So I ask, what is your experience? Are there ar number of single women? Why do some Imams marry non-Muslim women instead of Muslims?

7 STEPS TO FINDING A MUSLIM WIFE

I’m being stalked. For the past 6 months, a brother has been catching me on Facebook and email, EVERYDAY, asking me to help him find a spouse. But I can’t. He wants to know what the problem is and I keep telling him, it’s not ME, it's not my job to find you a spouse! I mean, I feel bad but I know that this issue is larger than me and larger than this one brother.

For the past month, we've run a poll entitled, "Multiculturalism: What do you feel about inter-racial marriage?" 84% responded "Perfectly ok!" 9% responded "OK, but I wouldn't do it." and 6% responded, "Not ok for anyone - people should stay within their own backgrounds."

We know that the story of race is a complex one and this question of right or wrong marriage practices has been asked throughout our history. But most of us don't know that as recently as 1967, it was against the law to marry inter-racially. It's only been within the last few decades that inter-racial marriages have lost some of their tabooness.

Accordingly, an Huffington Post article states multiracial Americans are becoming the fastest growing group in America. Most interesting is that the largest majority of this group is under 20 years old, a key reminder of anti-mixed racial laws on the books.